Election Day 2016 is nearly here after what seems like the longest campaign season in history.
While the presidential election has dominated the news for more than a year, Coloradans will be voting for a Senator, Representatives, a huge swath of the state legislature that could change the balance of power and ballot issues ranging from universal healthcare and a minimum wage hike statewide to how marijuana can be consumed in the city of Denver and much, much more.
Get registered to vote
The rest of this guide doesn’t matter if you’re not registered to vote. Colorado’s all mail-in ballot system means that ballots are in the mail starting Oct. 17, but if you’re not registered it’s not too late. Max Spiegelbaum has the scoop, but here are the key points:
- Check (and update) your registration here.
- If you aren’t registered or your registration is not up to date, find your local polling station here for instructions on how to vote in person.
- You can register to vote in-person at a voter service and polling center up to and including Election Day.
Check out your ballot
Your county has a sample ballot ready to view up on its website already (here are the Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Boulder, El Paso, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Weld County ballots, for example). In addition, the state of Colorado’s Blue Book has an in-depth analysis of each issue in front of voters.
To get a little insight into the people and issues on your ballot, here are the candidate and issue profiles written by The Denver Post’s politics team:
Major Races
Senate:
- Profile: Michael Bennet walks fine line on policy, politics in the U.S. Senate, while critics accuse him of finger-in-the-wind politicking
- Profile: Darryl Glenn positions himself as a strong conservative, but his underdog personal story is missing from his Senate campaign
Sixth Congressional District Representative
- Profile: Longtime legislator Morgan Carroll argues for change in suburban congressional district
- Profile: Mike Coffman pursues re-election as immigration and VA issues linger
Judges on the Colorado ballot: What should you do?
2016 Colorado Ballot Measures
- Amendment 69: ColoradoCare
- Amendment 70: Minimum Wage
- Amendment 71: Constitutional changes
- Amendment 72: Cigarette taxes
- Proposition 106: Aid-in-dying
- Proposition 107: Presidential primaries
- Proposition 108: Unaffiliated voters
- Amendment T: Slavery reference
- Amendment U: Property taxes
- Ballot Issue 4B: Arts funding
Prefer to listen to your analysis? Check out Colorado Public Radio’s Voter’s Guide, which includes debates over each of the key ballot measures.
Want to see just the issues that affect school districts around the state? Chalkbeat Colorado has a series looking at the most important educational issues up for vote in November.
Interactive ballot
Another tool to explore your ballot is a new service from a startup called Ballotready, from the National Science Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.
To use it, just go to ballotready.org, plug in your street address and it will show you a grid of what you’re voting on, complete with short summaries of every candidate and issue.
Endorsements
Last, but certainly not least, is the list of endorsements from The Denver Post’s Editorial Board. (But first: “Why do newspapers endorse political candidates if they are supposed to be unbiased?” is a great way to start if you’re fuzzy on the concept of endorsements.)
The Editorial Board has short summaries of its positions here, but here’s a cheat sheet.
- President: Hillary Clinton
- Senate: Michael Bennet
- 3rd Congressional District: Scott Tipton
- 6th Congressional District: Mike Coffman
- Amendment 69, ColoradoCare: No.
- Amendment 70, Minimum wage increase: No.
- Amendment 71, Petition standards: No.
- Amendment 72, Tobacco tax increase: Yes.
- Amendments T and U, Constitutional clean-up: Yes and yes.
- Proposition 106, Medical aid in dying: No.
- Propositions 107 and 108, Presidential and open primaries: Yes and yes.
- Issue 4B, Scientific and Cultural Facilities District renewal: Yes.
